


The Longest Night

by octoberland



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Sexy Times, a hint of Kushiel if you look for it, blessed be, happy yule, longest night
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-22
Updated: 2013-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-05 12:18:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1093793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/octoberland/pseuds/octoberland
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki introduces Darcy to a new Christmas tradition and in doing so reveals his true nature. Just a fluffy/sexy one-shot for Yule.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Longest Night

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone. This is a little Christmas/Yule one-shot that I just came up with. I'm not having it beta'd because I wanted it to be up as close to Yule as possible which as of my typing this ended 50 minutes ago. The Winter Solstice is one of the holidays I celebrate and I wanted this story to reflect a bit of the mythology centering around that day. I also borrowed lightly from the Kushiel's Dart series by Jacqueline Carey though in all fairness she didn't invent these traditions. She just utilized them brilliantly in her books. But all inspiration deserves credit so I am giving credit where it is due.
> 
> Absolutely no character infringement intended anywhere on any part. I also promise you that I have no abandoned my other works. I'm just swamped with the holidays. You have my sincerest apologies. You will see shades of my main work in here but you do not need to have read it to get this.
> 
> I do hope you enjoy. Please let me know what you think. If you are sitting vigil this night my thoughts are with you. Blessed Be to all who celebrate this day. Thank you for reading!

“What are they doing?” asked Darcy. She gestured out the large windows to the field below. There were men and women kneeling, spread all across the palace lawn.

“It is midwinter,” replied Loki. “They are holding vigil for the return of the sun.”

Darcy looked at him and cocked an eyebrow. “Buuut…you guys don’t have a sun. Not like we do.”

Loki smiled. “Nevertheless, we are creatures of habit. And much like your kind, there was a time when we did not understand how our world worked. But don’t tell Odin I told you that,” Loki smirked, “he prefers to think of us as the gods we believe ourselves to be. All those centuries of conquering went to his head.” Loki winked at her.

“And they didn’t go to yours?” Darcy chided while elbowing him in the ribs.

“Oof,” he mocked, pretending the blow had hurt him.

Darcy returned her attention to the windows and what lay beyond. “I wanna play,” she said.

“It’s not a game, Darcy,” said Loki.

“I wanna _vigil_ ,” she corrected, placing emphasis on the word. Her gaze drifted down the hall and her expression turned solemn. “I’m not going to get anymore Christmases, Loki. I need a new tradition.”

Loki sighed. “You’re more work than a herd of goats, you know that?”

Darcy turned to him, her eyes widened and then narrowed. “And what would you know about herding goats, Prince ‘I probably sat on my ass all day while growing up’ Loki?”

Loki chuckled. “I do so love it when you grow indignant.” He placed his hand lightly on her elbow and guided her down the long hall. “You’re right,” he said. “I know nothing of herding goats. But I imagine it’s easier than the care and feeding of one Darcy Lewis of Midgard.”

Darcy began to speak but Loki cut her off.

“Shush,” he said. “You want to vigil?”

Darcy nodded.

“Then we’ll vigil.”

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

An hour later and they were ready. Darcy had been dressed in the traditional white gown the women wore and a matching white goatskin cape for added warmth. Loki was in a simplified version of his finery with the addition of a wolf’s hair capelet draped across his shoulders. 

“Are you certain?” asked Loki. He’d relayed to her the particulars, how there was no talking, and the vigil was to last till dawn. They stood before a pair of doors that led outside.

Darcy looked down at her bare feet and wiggled her toes. “I’m not so sure about this,” she said.

“It is tradition,” replied Loki.

Darcy rolled her eyes. “You’re gonna make me regret this, aren’t you?”

“Never, “ replied Loki with a wide grin. He pushed open the tall doors and a cool gust of air blew in. Darcy shivered but she forged on ahead of him. 

There was a light dusting of snow on the ground and it crunched beneath her feet as she walked. The whole field was awash in a silver glow as if from moonlight and she could see her breath form in the cold air.  
They picked a spot in the back away from the others and knelt down in the snow. Darcy tucked her hands under her cape in an effort to keep her fingers warm but she was worried about her knees and her toes that rested against the cold, hard ground.

She looked over at Loki and saw that he already had his head bowed, deep in thought. He looked transformed in this landscape, like some sort of sculpture carved from the finest marble, shining in the light reflected off the snow. She wondered if he would shatter if she reached out and touched him.

Loki opened one eye. “You’re supposed to be meditating,” he said in a quiet voice.

“You’re not supposed to be talking,” she whispered. She turned and bowed her head as he had done.

They sat like that in the silence and snow for a while. She could hear their breathing and the occasional scuttling of a critter in the nearby forest, but on this night not even the evening drums rang out to call the warriors home as they usually did. There were no sounds of merriment or fighting or drunken tales told loudly over a hearth fire. No clanging goblets or singing skalds. Not even the stabled horses made a sound.  
It was peaceful and so very different from the bustling holidays Darcy had grown up with. She thought back on her family’s traditions: how they’d go and visit the local seminary/shrine that turned itself into a festival of lights every December. And the mad hunt for the PERFECT Christmas tree deemed such only by her father; and the ugly sweater that got passed around as a present from family member to family member year after year. Darcy had secretly liked the sweater but in the spirit of playing the game had kept the tradition going. She thought of her mother’s cheesecake.

“Are you alright?” Loki leaned in and Darcy snapped out of her reverie.

“What?” She turned to look at him. His face was inches away. “Yeah, why?” she asked, confused.

Loki chuckled as quietly as he could. “You were moaning,” he said.

“I was not!” Darcy hissed.

“You most certainly were,” he said as he leaned back.

One of the older women ahead of them turned around. Her face was set in a glare until she spied Loki. She turned back around quickly and kept her head down though Darcy could see the way her shoulders heaved with each breath as though she were suddenly nervous.

Darcy bowed her own head again and this time she tried to think of nothing at all. It was an exercise Frigga had been teaching her, though certainly not an unfamiliar one. Darcy had taken a few yoga classes. She knew about mindfulness.

After a time she began to shiver. Her legs and feet were growing numb. She didn’t know how long they’d been out there but it felt like hours to her.

“Darcy,” she heard Loki whisper gently. He reached a hand under her cape and took her fingers in his. Instantly his touch warmed her. It seemed to radiate out of his fingertips and spread through her slowly like molasses. She could tell it for what it was though: his magik, warm and liquid and filling her with a sense of comfort like nothing else on Asgard could. In all of her nights spent crying and raging at the loss of her world and all the people she’d loved how strange it was that this man, this god, was the one thing to bring her any sort of peace.

Darcy clasped his hand tight and squeezed once, a silent ‘thank you’.

She felt him shift and then he tugged her closer to him. She looked up into his eyes. His mouth was open, as if he were about to speak but was unsure if he should. He rubbed his thumb along the back of her hand.

“There is…” he said. His tone was cautious, his words stilted. “…another tradition.” 

He paused and took a deep breath. He looked down at their joined hands and then continued.

“One not oft observed in recent years.” He looked back up at Darcy. “One in which a Prince of Asgard lies with a maiden, thus ensuring a good crop in the coming year. But only if she accepts him, all of him.”

Normally Darcy would have given him some clever retort, made some joke about him just wanting to get laid, but he seemed so nervous that she couldn’t bring herself to tease him.

“Okay,” she said. She kept her expression neutral, waiting. 

“I’ve never…Thor has…but…” said Loki.

Darcy placed a finger across his lips to silence him.

“I said okay,” she said. Then she pulled her finger away.

“Okay,” said Loki, nodding. “Okay,” he said again. Then he stood and pulled her to her feet. She wobbled a bit, her joints and muscles stiff from kneeling in the cold snow but she still felt warm from the magik he’d released into her. After a moment of getting her bearings Loki led her into the forest.

Because of the snow there was plenty of light to see by. They walked in single file, him ahead of her, though he kept her hand firmly in his grasp. Eventually they came to a circular clearing. It wasn’t large but it was big enough for the two of them. Loki held out his free hand and whispered something under his breath. Slowly, several small, glowing orbs rose from his upturned hand and circled the small space casting it in a glow as if by torch light. She could even feel heat emanating from them.

Loki turned to face her. Without a word he removed her cloak and laid it on the ground beneath them. Darcy looked down and then back up at him. She repeated his question from earlier.

“Are you certain?” she asked.

“No,” he whispered.

She placed her hand across his cheek. “I love you,” she said in a rare show of traditional affection. Usually she just called him names or patted his ass or quoted The Princess Bride at him, saying ‘as you wish’ all day long. But now seemed like a good time for traditions old and new.

“You may not when this night is through,” he said.

“Hush,” she said. She stepped forward and pressed a kiss lightly to his lips. At first he stood frozen and unresponsive but then it was like a floodgate opened within him and he kissed her back passionately, his hands snaking their way into her hair and tilting her head. This time they both moaned.

Darcy made to remove her gown that flowed around her in long billowy layers but Loki stopped her.

“No,” he said, his lips barely leaving hers. “Keep it on.”

She had the lower half of her dress lifted halfway up and she felt Loki reach under the gathered hem. She wore no undergarments this night, a state to which Loki had confessed a liking for, and so when he touched her, he really touched her, no barriers in their way. She gasped as his long and nimble fingers stroked her and she clung to his shoulders to keep from falling down.

They stood like that for a moment, kissing while he stroked her, her body growing more heated every second.

Gently, he guided her down to the ground and onto her cape. She tugged at the clasp of his capelet until she pried it loose enough to kiss the column of his throat.

“You have become my living world,” he whispered into her ear. “As you love me, so do I, love you.”

“Always,” he added when she stopped kissing him. It was the first time he’d ever said it to her.

Darcy reached down between them and took him in her hand. He was already hard and he trembled when she touched him.

“In me. Please,” she whispered back.

Loki pulled back, looked down at her, and nodded.

Darcy unfastened his pants and Loki’s breath caught when he felt her skin against his. She guided him to her, spreading her legs so she could take him in more easily. He entered her slowly, their eyes locked on each other, never wavering. And that was how they made love: slow, their heartbeats synchronized their breathing one. They held hands as they moved and Darcy wrapped her legs around Loki, shifted her hips to take him deeper.

Their skin glowed in the orange/yellow light from the orbs surrounding them. Loki’s hair fell around their faces creating a curtain. She could see through it in pieces and thought she caught a glimpse of movement. 

“Don’t,” said Loki in a strained voice, stopping her from looking away from him.

“I need you to see,” he said. His hips continued their steady thrusting as he spoke. She was barely able to speak herself.

“See what?” she asked in a shaky voice. Sweat was pooling between her breasts. 

“Me,” he said.

She watched him, trying to discern what he meant. At first she thought it was just shadows, just something from the way his hair was falling across his cheeks but then the shadows grew, became more defined, like scars. The hue of his skin changed too. He was always pale but suddenly more so. Then his skin darkened, turned indigo in the conjured light. Last were his eyes. Those too changed, washed out in crimson so that there was not even any white left in them.

Darcy stilled. She reached out a hand and traced the lines on his face.

Loki had also stilled. He leaned into her touch and then spoke.

“Tonight is the Longest Night, Darcy Lewis. Will you be as the earth beneath us and take my seed? As I am? To ensure that all of Asgard is blessed in the coming year?”

Darcy just looked at him.

“It must be your will,” he continued. “I will not force you.”

Darcy traced her fingers over his lips.

“If you wish to…” Loki began to speak.

“It is my will,” she said. She hooked her ankles behind his back and thrust her hips up.

As before, when they first kissed, Loki loosed himself upon her. He thrust into her hard, causing her to cry out, a cry that he promptly swallowed with a kiss. His tongue was cold but she paid no heed. She kissed him back with equal fervor and their bodies became a melding of cold and warmth, dark and light. Loki snaked an arm under her and around her waist so he could hold her as close to him as possible. His hips moved in a circular rhythm and soon Darcy was gasping for breath and clawing at his back.

“I’m going to…I’m going to…” she panted.

Loki merely growled in reply and thrust harder.

“Oh, God,” She screamed as she came. “ _My_ God,” she said as she clung to Loki, her body trembling in the wake of her orgasm. “Mine,” she said as a second and smaller orgasm rolled through her, the word coming out stilted and high pitched.

Loki’s body went rigid. He gave two more quick thrusts and then groaned loudly as he spilled his seed into her.

Darcy ran her hands along his back and under his fur capelet. Her mouth sought his and they kissed languidly. When she finally pulled away he said, 

“Asgard will be fruitful in the coming year. As will we.”

Darcy heard cheering and clapping from the forest around them. She looked and saw the men and women from the vigil standing amid the trees and shrubbery.

“You little shit!” she said. She smacked Loki’s chest then tried to hide under him.

“Don’t be cross,” he said into her hair. “It is part of the tradition.”

“You could have warned me,” she said. Her voice was muffled by his clothing so she popped her head out a bit. “I guess we can add ‘live sex act’ to my resume now.” Darcy huffed.

“Darcy, you may have entered these woods a mortal woman, but I give you my word you leave as a goddess. For the next year you’ll want for nothing. You’ll receive gifts from every harvest; have an honored seat at every festival. Women and girls will trip over themselves just to touch your gown or catch your smile. You have done a service to this realm.”

Darcy looked at him. “Really?” she asked.

“Truly,” he said.

“What about the…” she waved at his face.

“They did not see that,” he said. Loki withdrew from her and fastened his pants. He ran his hands through his hair and looked out at the now empty forest.

Darcy smoothed out her dress as she sat up.

“What was that?” she asked.

“Me,” he said, still not looking at her. “The real me. The monster. _Jotun_.”

Darcy recalled Frigga’s words. _Has he spoken to you of his lineage?_

“You’re not a monster,” said Darcy. She laid her hand on his shoulder. “Look at me.”

He turned; his eyes wary.

“I accept you,” she said. “All of you.”

“You do, don’t you?” he asked in wonder.

“Like I said,” she said as she stood, grabbing her cloak with one hand. “You’re mine.” She held her free hand out to him.

Loki placed his hand in hers and stood. He had a wicked grin on his face. “I’m suddenly envisioning entirely new uses for my old bonds.” 

“Kinky bastard,” she said. She nudged him and then led him into the trees and towards the palace.

Loki tugged on her hand so that she turned and faced him, her body nearly tumbling into his. He placed one slender finger beneath her chin and tilted her face up.

“Yours,” he whispered.

They kissed and around them the longest night turned to day, the goddess blessed and the god sated, unlikely lovers on a cold winter’s eve.


End file.
